Sunblade Chronicles 1, Undeath
by Ortaga
Summary: The story how a young High Elf Paladin becomes one of the chosen knight of the Scourge.


A warm breeze blew through the window, and the sweet scent of the spring grass tickled the little high elf's nose. He woke with a start; he was meeting his friend by the river. He slipped out of bed and put on his slippers, and grabbed the wand his father had fashioned for him. He put on his weekend shirt, it was a dark blue tunic trimmed with gold lace, the lace his mother had spun for the Prince himself. He was doing his best to be as quiet as possible, because if his dad found out he was sneaking out this early to meet his friend, whom came from a family of the lesser class he would never be allowed to speak to her again.

His feet were silent as he crossed the stone floor; he passed through the living room and on to the patio, and continued to the river bank. The feeling of sneaking out was a feeling he could never get over. Breaking the rules was always something he loved. He took a deep breath and the morning air filled his lungs and he was off. Running down the river bank, his feet pattered in the mud, as he came to their hill, the hill they always went to play.

When he crested the hill he was all alone. Confused he looked around, she was always there first. He looked behind the tree, and in a bush. He sat down, about to give up hope, when he was tackled from behind and they went tumbling down the hill. The surge of fear that first pumped through his veins was now gone, and laughter was now escaping him, he knew who it was. She had snuck up on him like she always so good at doing.

They finally came to rest in the muddy banks of river, the high elf boy pushed the girl off of him, and as she stood up he pushed her into the river. "That's what you get for ruining my new shirt", said the boy as he tried to brush the mud off his shirt.

The high elf girl wiped the mud off her face as she said, "You don't have to get so mad about stupid things like that, San." All her clothes were now caked in mud and sand, but she just stood there with her condemning look that he had already learned to fear more than his own father.

His anger quickly dissipated, he still wanted to show her what was so exciting, so new; the spell his father had taught him. "Kelosong, I want to show you something," Sanaras said. He adjusted his feet getting ready.

Kelosong just gave him a quizzical look. She never really understood the magisters. She knew that they were very important to her culture, and the Sunwell was the source of their magic. The snootiness and prejudice of the other peoples of the kingdom and the grand Alliance were as she thought was just ignorance.

Sanaras got ready; he took a deep breath, and then shot his hands into the air. A slight disembodied hissing noise came from the soil, and white-blue circle formed around him and quickly closed in around him the traveled up his body. He gave a huge smile to Kelosong, though she looked unimpressed.

"What was the point of that?" she asked as she folded her arms.

"It's called the Arcane Torrent!" Sanaras replied as he pulled out his wand, "It gives you mana when you are unable to feel the presence of the Sunwell!" He whipped his wand and a blue bolt shot out of the end and flew past Kelosong's head and struck a tree behind her, leaving a black charred spot.

"That's actually really cool, San" Kelosong said as she walked over to the tree and felt the black spot. She had expected it to be hot, like it had burned the tree. To her surprise it was cold, ice cold, like that part of the tree had died. "San, come check this out!"

Sanaras ran over and felt the spot with his hand "That's weird, it's supposed to be like a zap." He started to chuckle, "Bet you brother can't do that with his stupid sword."

Kelosong slapped Sanaras in the face and pushed him back down the hill into the river, "Why do you stupid mages and your families have to be so mean to my family all the time? You are so stupid with your fancy clothes and your dumb little wands!" She kicked dirt on him and stormed back up the hill and started to cry.

Sanaras just lay in the mud. No sure of what just happened. He heard her crying. He got up and noticed his broken wand in the mud. He pulled it out of the mud and wiped it on is already dirty shirt as he made his way up the hill. He walked over to Kelosong and leaned against the other side of the tree that she was sitting on the other side of. He didn't know what to say to her, was this just one of those girl things? "Um, Kelosong, I'm sorry for what I said"

Kelosong stopped crying and look at Sanaras. "My brother died," she said and started crying again. Sanaras sat next to her and she quickly fell asleep on his shoulder. Before they knew it they were both asleep.

Sanaras woke up and looked at the sky. It was midday. He looked to his side and Kelosong woke up. "Wanna play?" he asked getting up.

"Sure, what do you want to play?"

"Um, how about you're a princess and the Demons have taken you, and I'm your mage coming to rescue you."

"How about you are my Spellbreaker Captain and I have a sword I took from one of the guards."

"Sure thing Kelo," Sanaras said. He didn't want to argue, he hated making her cry like that. He pretended to draw his sword and cut his way through the imaginary armies of the demonic orcs. Kelosong started running around in circles. "What are you doing?" asked.

I'm running down the stairs of the tower I'm locked in."

"Oh, who has the key to the tower?"

"Um, the Orc Warlord."

"Ok, I think I see him," Sanaras said as ran over to the tree that had the death spot from the morning. He pretended to dodge swing and blow, and returned them just as quick. He could smell the foul breath of the Orc as they dueled, he could hear it's roars as he jabbed his blade into the beast's armor. He looked over his shoulder and saw Kelosong killing imaginary orcs. "THE ORC WARLORD HAS FALLEN!" he yelled and grabbed the key for the dead orc's corpse. He ran over to Kelosong and unlocked the door to the tower.

"They surrounded us! Let's go back to back!" Kelosong said running behind Sanaras. They walked sideways as the fended off endless waves of the Orcish Hordes. They split up and fought their way toward their meeting hill. Kelosong let out a scream.

Sanaras ran over to her, thinking she was actually hurt, "What happened?!" He yelled to her as he ran.

"An arrow hit me in the side!"

He was relieved, but continued to run to her aid, when a ring of fire formed around him. This was no imaginary fire. He let out scream.

"SANARAS SUNBLADE!" yelled the booming voice of Sanaras' father. Sanaras froze, petrified with fear. The flames went out and he saw his father along with Kelosong's father, both fuming with anger. Kelosong made her way to his side, sheepishly looking at the ground. "You two have been gone all day without a word. Your parents have been worried, Sanaras, your mother was about to message the guard."

"Kelosong, your mother has decided what your punishment will be, now brush yourself off before we head home," Her father told with a scolding look.

Sanaras' father continued yelling, going on about his dirty clothes and his mother. Kelosong leaned over and whispered to him "San, you scream like a girl." Then poked him in the ribs and left.

Sanaras' father continued yelling at him the whole way home. Sanaras took off his clothes and took a bath, then went to bed. He didn't sleep. He just stared at the ceiling thinking about how much he hated his father, how much he no longer wanted to be a magister, he wanted to be a Spellbreaker. A tear ran down his cheek when he thought of how Kelosong must feel about her brother. Before long the anger and sadness had sapped all of his energy and fell back to sleep. While sleeping dreamt a horrible dream, of darkness, separation, and death.

When he woke the next morning Sanaras' father was in the living room talking to his mother. Sanaras could hear them talking from his room, he laid and listened. "I don't like him hanging around that girl, she's a bad influence."

Several weeks past before Sanaras was allowed to go out and play with other elves, the only rule was that he wasn't to be with Kelosong. Sanaras took his little sister Sanaria to play by the river and watch young dragonhawks play by their nest. Sanaria was different than their father, he could tell that even at the age of nine. She cared more for the animals and nature rather than her studies of arcane magic. She was quieter too; he had no idea where that came from because his mother always had something she wanted to say and his father always had to argue it. Sanaras hated his parents constant arguing, he admired his sisters quiet nature. As they were watching the dragonhawks he felt a familiar presence. He looked over his shoulder and nobody was there. "Odd", he thought, then went back to watching the dragonhawks. He began fiddling with his new wand and listening as Sanaria began to hum. Just as he closed his eye he was tackled from behind. Sanaria let out a short scream. Soon Sanaras found him in the river wrestling his attacker off of him. As he sat up he instantly recognized the red curls of hair, the sparkling blue eyes, and that "I just got you" grin.

Kelosong rolled off of Sanras and just sat there, "Why haven't you been coming to play?" She asked as she gave him a quizzical look.

"My father won't let me play with you anymore. He says I'm not be seen with common elves. He has never liked you or your family. He's troll poop." Sanaras stood admiring Kelosong in his head for sneaking up on him so well then said, "Want to play?

"What about your sister?

"Oh she is fine, she likes to watch the dragonhawks."

"Ok, I'll be the Ranger General and you be my magister-"

"No, I'm the Spellbreakers Captain."

"Ok great!", Kelosong said as she begun shooting down waves of troll berserkers. Sanaras joined her by finding a stick about the length of his arm and began to swing it. They played for what felt like hours, cutting down tribes of troll to rescue innocent elves from the trolls sacrificing chambers, fightings off hordes of orcs, exploring new lands, and defending their people from a demonic invasion. The ran around for so long they found themselves on top of a hill they have never been to before. They smelled something truly awful, like piles of rotten flesh. When they looked down the far side of the hill the saw where the smell was coming from. It was infact rotten flesh.

There before the two young elves were the undead armies on their way to the Sunwell, commanded by none other that Prince Arthas himself. Sanaras had once seen the prince in the city of Lordaeron when he was still filled with the light, but even from this distance the young elf could see how the princes skin had become a pale grey and how his lips now held a permanent sneer. Both of the little elves knew the gravity of what was in front of them. They saw the horrors of the scourge. Quickly they ran back to their homes and watched the push to the Sunwell from a distance.

 _Ten Years Later at the Argent Dawn Forward Camp_

Sanaras was standing with the paladins as they prepared for their open assault on the Undead base in the Eastern Plaguelands. They were hoping to take back the city of Stratholme. The light felt weak here, surrounded by so much darkness, Sanaras could feel the strength of the paladins begin to wane. This darkness was stronger than anything Sanaras had felt before, yet it was somehow familiar. He looked around hoping to get a glimpse of Kelosong's red curls falling out of her hood. She was tasked with sabotaging undead war machines. She was nowhere in sight; Sanaras wanted to see her one last time before charging into battle.

The Argent Commander rode in front of the lines of Paladins on his warhorse. "Today we take back the city that was taken from us by our own prince! Today we show Azeroth that the we shall not fall into darkness! That we shall not go down without a Fight! We shall show these undead the Light! For Lordaeron! For the Sunwell! For the Light!" The Commander turned around on his warhorse to face the massing undead army.

A portal opened in neutral zone between the armies. "Touching speech." Said a dark, disembodied, echoing voice. The portal grew as the Lich King stepped through. "These lands have always belonged to me. I will crush your pitiful army where you stand." With that he pointed Frostmourne at the Agent front lines. Sanaras could feel its cold pierce his soul. The undead charged, the paladins let out a roar then began their charge.

The two armies clashed, the sounds of ghouls barking, paladins screaming, swords and flesh colliding. The horrors slowly began to overcome Sanaras' senses. As he cut down a necromancer he looked up. Skeleton soldiers overtook two paladins fighting back to back. He heard their blood curtling screams. Panic began filling his heart. He continued looking around soon realizing he was the lasting champion of the light. Heavy footsteps approached Sanaras from the right. An icy chill arced across his skin and made its way up his neck and to the back of his skull. "You have a strong quality," echoed the voice of Arthas. Sanaras turned and and swung his sword at the Lich King. Arthas swung Frostmourne and shattered the young paladin's sword. The force spun Sanaras around, the Lich King cut up his back and the paladin fell.

Sanaras fell onto plagued soil. He looked up to see a hooded elf decapitate ghoul. Her red curls fell out her hood. His vision darkness as the cold runeblade absorbed his soul. He could hear the screams of Kelosong fading into the black. Then he was gone.

 _Years Later in the Acherus Ebon Hold_

Sanaras blinded a few times. "I am not dead?", he thought himself. He could feel the cold scar along his back. Realizing that he was now undead, once cut down on the fields of battle against the scourge, Sanaras was now one of their champions. He was a Death Knight. He now served the Lich King.


End file.
